Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

J T knew the exact moment the truth became clear to Alexandra. It wasn’t when she nearly spilled her drink; it was a moment after, when the pieces must’ve come together in her mind.

Was she thinking about that first night, when she asked him if he’d met the senator? Or when he’d told her he knew she didn’t work for Talon & Drake because she hadn’t recognized him .

She’d probably thought he had a big ego, but he’d been stating a basic fact.

He stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her waist. “Alexandra, darling. I see you’ve met my dad and stepmom.”

Her smile was overly bright, but she’d recovered well enough. “We were just getting to that. It’s an honor to meet you, Senator Talon.” She held out a hand. “Alexandra Vargas.”

“A pleasure,” Joe said as he shook her hand. “JT has told us very little about you.”

“That’s my fault, really. I wasn’t sure if I could join you tonight, and I didn’t want him saying anything in case I failed to show.”

Smooth. Very smooth.

“We so appreciate you helping, but I hope we haven’t pulled you away from family this evening,” Lisa said.

“My parents are on a cruise celebrating my dad’s retirement. I was going to spend the holiday with my best friend, but that fell through, so here I am.”

Her best friend. The roommate who was dating Forbes. He was glad she’d made the decision to spend the holiday with him instead.

A server passed by with a tray of hors d’oeuvres, and Lex took a cracker topped with veggies and cheese. “I didn’t realize it would take so long to do the gift-giving, or I’d have eaten earlier.”

“Dinner will be served shortly,” Lisa said. “And really, JT should have warned you.” She gave him a look that conveyed her disappointment at his failure.

He slid his hand lower and cupped Lex’s hip, just shy of an ass grab. He’d have warned her if she’d told him she was coming. He would make her pay for throwing him under the bus later. They would both enjoy her punishment.

She turned to face him, licking crumbs from her lips with a wicked smile. Holy hell. She was here to play.

How many minutes until he could get her alone in his hotel room?

But first, Dad wanted to talk.

He kissed Lex’s cheek, then followed his father to the manager’s office. Once they were alone, Joe said, “I had an interesting call from Ed Drake tonight.”

“We both know if this is about Talon & Drake, we can’t be having this conversation.”

“No one will know.”

“ I know. We agreed that when I was named CEO, you would not interfere. We could lose our government contracts if you’re found to be in violation of Senate Ethics Rules. Either that or you can be impeached.”

“We both know ethics rules are only as strong as the willingness to enforce them.”

“I don’t care. And I don’t care what Drake has to say. He already told me his thoughts, and when that failed, he ran to you like a child trying to turn Dad against Mom.”

“He’s also been my business partner since you were in diapers, and he owns a third of the company.”

“He’s wrong on this, Dad. Firing Spaulding was justified. He’s facing charges for attempting to drug a woman with the intention of raping her.”

“Being charged doesn’t mean he’ll be convicted. And he didn’t actually commit the crime. Attempted means something very different. If he’s found not guilty, he could sue us.”

“He did it at the company holiday party, meaning the victim could sue us.”

He had no clue if Alexandra could make a claim when, as Dad had said, she hadn’t actually been drugged. But it didn’t matter. He wasn’t backing down on this.

“But the victim doesn’t work for Talon & Drake, does she? She’s done a fine job manipulating you. You even moved her into the Mayflower. Got her so-called attacker fired.”

How did his father know Alexandra was the victim? All at once, he realized Drake would have probably sent him the police report.

She’d told Lee her name. Lee told Lisa. It wouldn’t have taken long for his father to connect the dots.

He wanted to point out that Lex hadn’t known who he was, so it could hardly be manipulation, but Joe would never believe that, and the last thing JT wanted to do was explain the finer details of his yet-to-be-fully-consummated relationship with a woman he was increasingly certain would be central to his future.

“She’s not manipulating anyone. And you must not have been informed of the part where Lee and I were the witnesses who watched Spaulding spike her drink. He’s a scumbag who no longer works for Talon & Drake. That’s final.”

“We might lose the Lewiston contract.”

“Spaulding was fucking it up anyway. He wasn’t ready to manage a job that big, and it was bullshit that Lewiston and Drake insisted on making him the project manager. I’ve got seven other PMs who can step in and do better. I’m in talks with bringing Pamela Morrison up from Miami.”

He saw his dad flinch at the woman’s name, and that was why it was good that neither he nor Drake were in charge now. It wasn’t that either man believed women couldn’t manage a hundred-million-dollar build like the bridge replacement and neighborhood revitalization contract, it was that they worried the client would balk at having a woman at the helm.

The boys club was alive and well and determined to use any excuse to exclude women from power. If JT did nothing else as CEO of Talon & Drake, it would be to ensure all the top hires and promotions would be fair.

Edward Drake hated it.

“I’ve increased revenue by thirty-nine percent in six years. I’ve more than proven myself.”

JT had done little but work for the last six years for this exact reason. He knew much of the business world had thought Joe was a fool for appointing JT CEO when he was just twenty-five years old. Political rivals claimed JT was a puppet.

Two years in, JT had done an extensive interview with TIME Magazine that resulted in his face on the cover and a story that laid out JT’s—not his father’s—vision for the company and the strides he’d taken to make it come true.

“Drake doesn’t like it, he can suck it up. We aren’t beholden to stockholders.” This was the key point that put JT in the driver’s seat. Company employees came first, not a stock price. “Waiting for a sexual predator to be convicted before firing him is not an option. My word is final.”

“I’ll admit, the woman is gorgeous, but you need to be certain she’s on the up-and-up. We made it through reelection, and now I need to start looking at a presidential run in 2008. If that were to happen, you need to be positioning yourself for your own senate run to fill my seat in 2010. Part of that is getting serious about finding a woman who can fulfill the duties of a politician’s wife.”

The idea of choosing a partner based on what she could bring to a campaign was repugnant, but at the same time, his father wasn’t wrong.

Tonight’s event had been planned, as it had been every year for the last several, by Lisa, Joe’s third wife and the first one suited to the role of political spouse. Lisa had her eyes on being First Lady, and there was a decent chance Joe could give that to her.

But that was four—or more likely eight—years away. “I don’t need relationship advice, Dad.”

“Don’t you, though? She’s pretty, and she helped out plenty tonight, but she needs more polish if she’s going to stick around. A cheap dress and makeup get a pass at a charity event for transitional housing families, but they won’t fly at a political fundraiser. And she better not be a twit.”

JT cringed at his father’s words. Alexandra looked beautiful just as she was. But his father had always been obsessed with having a wife who looked perfect at all times and wore couture clothing whenever she left the house. He suspected it was one way he sought to show the world how far he’d come after being raised in an Indian boarding school in which the headmaster spent every day telling the students how worthless they were.

“Pretty sure she’s smarter than both of us. She’s working on a PhD in theoretical physics.”

“Oh. That’s good. But possibly too intimidating.”

JT rolled his eyes. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“When Drake finds out you’re screwing her, he’s going to flip.”

“It’s none of Drake’s damn business who I’m involved with.” JT crossed to the door.

Behind him, his father’s voice rose. “It’s awfully convenient that she glommed on to you. Hire an investigator. She needs to be vetted.”

Oh, hell no.

“And for god’s sake, wear a fucking condom. I don’t care if she says she’s on the pill. Women lie.”

The last words were practically a shout. JT yanked open the door and came face-to-face with Alexandra, whose hand was frozen in the air, as if she were about to knock.

Her face was deathly pale. She cleared her throat. “Y-your stepmother asked me to get you and the senator. Dinner is about to be served.”

“Thank you.” He had no doubt the final words had been loud and clear in the hall, but how much more had she overheard?

“I…I um…I think I’ll get going. I’m not hungry, and I promised my parents I’d call.”

“Lex—”

“Enjoy your evening.” She ran her hand over her dress. “I—I wasn’t sure what the dress code would be. Better that I go.”

Shit. She’d heard everything .

She headed down the hall and he followed her into the break room with the line of lockers.

“Lex. My dad is an asshole.”

“Better not let the people in the main room hear you say that.”

“Half of them know it too. He’s a good senator. And usually a good man, but he’s…got plans for me and forgets that I have my own mind.”

She unlocked a locker and pulled out her purse. “Tell your stepmom the elf costume is here.”

She tossed him the key. It bounced off his chest and hit the floor.

She headed for the door.

“Lex. Wait.”

“I’m not sitting at a table and eating with him and smiling like I didn’t hear him spew some awful things. Does his wife know his thoughts on women and lies?” She hiked her purse onto her shoulder and stepped into the hall. “You’re better off without an unpolished, too smart, gold digger like me. I might make you look bad. Or intimidate people who aren’t put off by my cheap clothes and bad makeup.”

He followed her into the corridor. “Why are you mad at me? I didn’t say any of that shit.”

“Listen. I just came here to get laid. I didn’t know that would require a private investigator to dig into my life. Or that I’d have to take a pee test to prove I’m on birth control. For the record, I hardly ever try to entrap wealthy men whose names I don’t even know.”

Her voice carried in the corridor, and JT had no doubt the caterers were getting an earful, which made him smile. He was years out from throwing his hat in the political ring, and even if he weren’t, there was no scandal here. His dad had been an ass, but this was a family matter.

She exited the building and crossed the parking lot. “Stop following me.”

“Then stop walking away from me.”

She neared a Honda Civic that was made in the mid-eighties, with a paint job that had seen better days. “Don’t bother giving me your father’s opinion of my car. I can guess exactly what he’d say.” She swiped at an eye, then unlocked the driver’s door. Under her breath, she said, “I can’t believe I wasted my gas budget on this.”

She pulled on the door handle, but his hand pressed on the window and roof, holding it closed as his body pressed to her back. “Lex. I am not my father. Please. Give me a chance.”

“Why does he hate me? What did I do to him?”

“He’s mad because I fired Spaulding over his and Drake’s objections. That’s why he wanted to talk to me alone.”

“You what ?”

“That’s why I went to New York. To tell Drake I was firing his pet for cause. It wasn’t something I could do on the phone. I needed my team in the office so we could reconfigure the management structure for our biggest project. Calling everyone in for a meeting two days before Christmas wasn’t my most popular move as CEO, but I got their support. Spaulding is out as of last night.”

“Does…does he know?”

He nodded. “Please. Come home with me tonight. You shouldn’t be alone at your place. Spaulding might show up again.”

“I don’t know, Jay. This has all gotten so ugly.”

“I’m sorry my dad was a dick. I was caught off guard. Didn’t know he knew anything, but I should have guessed. He and I—we aren’t supposed to talk about the company at all. And it’s my call all the way. He has no say. So he was lashing out like a child because he recognized your name. Drake must’ve told him or sent him the police report.”

“Will he tell Drake about you and me?”

“I don’t think so. But I’m hoping Drake will find out because you’ll be my date at the next company event.”

“We aren’t going to start dating, JT. You live in New York, and I have zero time for dating, let alone long distance.”

“But don’t you see? Long distance is perfect for our busy schedules. Instead of wasting time with dinner dates and movies, we’ll just have phone sex.”

She laughed at that.

He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “Please, Lex. Give me a chance.”

She tucked her head against his sternum. “I can’t believe you fired him. I was worried that he was your boss.”

“I’d have fired him on the spot that night, but we needed the investigation to move unhindered and having charges filed gave me more ammunition to do it properly. He was in a vital position for the company, so I needed to be careful.”

“I can’t believe I demanded anonymous one-time-only sex from a billionaire just a few hours after meeting him.”

He had to work to hide his smile. “I’m not a billionaire. But I do okay. And it killed me to say no to your offer. But if I’d taken it, we wouldn’t be here right now. And I want to see where this can go more than I wanted a single orgasm.”

“Oh, I’d have made you come more than once.”

He laughed. “Sounds like a testable hypothesis.”

“I can’t go back in there, Jay. Go have dinner and perform your official duties to the Talon family, or campaign, or whatever this was.”

“It’s a charity my stepmother helped create. Talon & Drake built the community center. My dad sees to it that it gets the funding it needs.”

“Who funds the Christmas gifts for the kids?”

“I do. It’s one reason my stepmom insists I play Santa. She wants me to see the kids’ faces. But honestly, I’d rather be a secret Santa. I don’t need to meet them to know what it means. My family wasn’t always rich.”

She rose on her toes and pressed her mouth to his, then whispered, “But still, you do it. Which makes me think part of you does want to see the joy your gifts can bring.”

She might be hitting a little too close to home there. He nodded toward the passenger side of the car. “Do you mind letting me drive?”

Her brows furrowed. “Yes, I mind. Also, you need to go back inside.”

He pulled out his BlackBerry. “I’ll send a text to Lee.”

He held the screen so she could read as he typed.

Sent: Sorry, bro. Joe upset Lex, so I’m taking her home.

“There. Lee will make excuses for me. Let’s go.”

“You aren’t driving my car.”

He leaned down and kissed her. “Fine. Unlock the passenger door.”

His phone pinged.

Received: No fair. He upsets me all the time, but you always tell me I have to stay.

He smiled and typed a reply.

Sent: She’s cuter than you, and you know how to handle Joe.

His phone pinged again as he tucked it away.

“Wait. What else did he say?”

He knew he was still winning her trust, so he showed her the phone.

Received: Have fun. I’m glad she’s giving you a chance. Don’t blow it.

She smiled after reading. “He seems like a good guy.”

“He’s my best friend. I mean, also my only friend, but whatever.”

She laughed.

He circled the car while she climbed into the driver’s seat, then leaned across and pulled up the lock from the inside. The old Honda didn’t have power locks or windows. He seriously hoped it had heat, but he wasn’t about to diss on her vehicle.

They were on the road before she asked, “Where are we going?”

“Are we spending the night together? Or do you have plans for Christmas morning?”

“No plans. You?”

They came to a stop at a light. He lifted her hand from the stick shift and kissed her knuckles. “I was hoping to spend it with you.”

She slipped her hand from his just before the light changed and they were moving again. “Okay. So your place or mine?”

“My place has room service.”

“Sold.”

They were thirty minutes from the hotel. She turned on Christmas music.

“Tell me about Lee.”

“He was my stepbrother for several years when we were kids. He’s five years younger than me and was five when my dad married his mom. The marriage didn’t last, but the little brother stuck.”

“That’s sweet. Especially given your age difference. So Lee is my age? Twenty-five?”

“Twenty-six. I’m thirty-one.”

“And when you were my age, you were taking over Talon & Drake. That’s a little wild.”

“It was, but I’d been working for the company since I was fourteen. Started with internships. All through college, I was working for the company on the side.”

“Was that your dad’s idea?”

“To be honest, I don’t really know anymore. I mean, I remember how it came about. I remember asking for the jobs, but I don’t know if Dad planted the idea, the drive. It was just always understood that I would take over someday and needed to be ready. It just happened far sooner than I expected when he decided to go into politics—and then won. He never would have stepped aside if it wasn’t for ethics rules. Dad loves that company, probably even more than he loves me and Lee.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Not anymore. It feels different at thirty-one than it did at twelve. Plus, he basically gave me the company, so I guess that means I’m important to him. Joe has lots of loves. He loves the tribe. He loves being a senator. He loves Lisa.”

“In that order?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’d put the tribe above politics, I think.”

“You’re going to want me to meet him again, aren’t you?”

“If this thing between us goes anywhere—which is what I want—then yes. But we don’t need to worry about that now. Honestly, it’s one of the reasons I was content to keep my identity secret. I liked being just Jay. No distraction of my family. No politics. No company to consume all my time.”

“But then you had to leave town for an emergency meeting at that company because of me.”

“Not because of you. Because of Spaulding and what he did. He’s responsible for his actions. Not you.”

He caught her half smile. “I think I like you, JT Talon.”

“And I’m thrilled to finally meet you, Alexandra Vargas.”