Page 25 of Total Abandon

“Zeke,” she levels, tilting her chin up with a smug smirk on her face. The light from the windows spills across her long wavy hair, throwing it into a glistening red halo.

“Keep poking the bear, don’t be surprised when it bites.” Heat-laced talons scrape at the back of my spine, urging me to close the distance between us and give that sharp tongue something to do. Her pupils dilate and the remnant of humor dies on her lips as we lock gazes. It takes a Herculean effort to wrestle that thought back into its box, filed away for later.

“I’m headed back to the office. I’ll see you tonight.” Without waiting for a reply, I turn and get the fuck out of there before I do something stupid.

“Yes,sir,” I hear her mutter as I round the corner.

***

I swipe my hand over my face, feeling the scrape of stubble under my palm. “Tell Damien I want the announcement to run tonight and get me Lucien Driver on the phone.”

Jacob nods and leaves my office. Lucian Driver is one of the best private investigators in the city. But what gives him an edge? He’s ex-Delta Force and isn’t unused to handling people and situations that lend themselves to a darker nature. Which is exactly what I need, as this job will take him to the depths of the Columbian jungle where the scum of the earth gathers to scheme and wreak havoc on innocent communities in the name of greed.

The light starts to blink on my phone, and I snatch it up. “Lucian,” I bite, already tense.

“What is it this time? Snooping for information about a product launch, or has another woman decided that the best chance of snagging the great Zeke Guerra is to get pregnant?”

I let out a low humorless chuckle, because truly? Either would be a thousand times more favorable.

“A little closer to home this time, brother.” I lean back in my chair and turn to look at the skyscrapers. My eyes home in on the blinking red light that I know to be my building in the distance, where Chloe is unpacking her things as we speak.

I give him the bare bones of it, because he is smart enough to fill in the blanks. He lets out a low whistle when I’m done. “So, you’re really going to convince the world you’re in love until I blow this thing wide open?”

“That’s the plan.” His responding laugh irritates me, and I grip the arm of my chair. I’ve known Lucien long enough, and he’s helped me out of enough binds, that he gets a longer leash when speaking to me. Not to mention he’s fucking huge and looks like hecould eat kids for breakfast. But there is only so much I will tolerate, and he knows it.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be an ass, it’s just…well, do you even know what love feels like between a man and a woman? Hard to portray something that you don’t know.” Lucien sounds sober enough now and I let out a deep breath through my nostrils.

He’s right, of course. I have no experience. Even for the woman who bore the most precious thing in my world, I’ve never felt more than a fleeting interest. A superficial flash that burns moderately for a few weeks or months and then hisses out of life as quickly as it came. Then again, Sandra isn’t exactly what would be considered easy to fall for by normal standards. She’s more interested in the prize, in saying she has something other people want. Whether that’s clothes, the latest designer purse, a new fire pit featured inArchitectural Digest…me. Or failing that, our child.

“It can’t be that hard. All I have to do is make doe eyes at her in public and keep my dick in my pants. Job done.” My jaw twitches in irritation. That last part still stings.

“Okay, but what about when you introduce her to your father? That’s going to be harder to pull off.”

I grind my molars so hard I’m sure they will be nothing but dust. The thought of Chloe anywhere near that man makes my blood boil. “I plan to keep that interaction short and sweet.”

Jacob knocks on my door and gestures to my phone, where my second line is blinking. “Mia Walker,” he mouths and I nod, frowning.

“Lucian, I have to go. Keep me updated on progress,” I snap and then hang up before he can answer, swiping a button to pick up Mia’s call.

“Business or pleasure, Mrs. Walker?” I drawl, knowing that she wouldn’t be calling me if it weren’t something important either way.

“Business and trust me, I take no pleasure in this,” she grumbles and I hear her blow out a cool breath.

Mia is Chief Operating Officer for Investigame, an educational tech company that’s been edging toward the Fortune 500 for the last couple of years. She’s smart as hell, a total knockout,and she managed to bring the most reluctant bachelor in the city to heel. Even when I watched them walk down the aisle, I couldn’t quite believe it.

“What do you need?” Whatever it is, if it’s in my ability to give it to her, she can have it. Once you’re in the circle, that’s the way we do things.

“I need you to tell me everything you know about Anthony Sweeney.” She huffs and I think I hear her chair creak like she’s leaning backward.

“Huh, so you’re on the receiving end of that asshole’s schemes? Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for you, kid.” I grin, clicking the tip of my Mont Blanc ballpoint.

“Oh yeah? Hit me.” Mia sounds so aggravated that I chuckle.

“The good news is that if that asshole is after you, you’re officially swimming with the big boys. The bad? He fights as dirty as they come.”

“Fabulous news,” she quips as I stand and trace a familiar path to the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office. The city sprawls below, cars crawling like ants, never ending and unaware of my presence. “He’s claiming an overlap in software, but it’s a bullshit ploy to get the courts to order us to release our algorithm.”

Yep. That sounds like Sweeney. “You didn’t want to take this to Mason?” I have to say, asshole he might be, I have to begrudgingly admire the balls of anyone who goes after Mason Walker’s wife. Walker is a stone-cold shark with the power to crush anyone’s career. And his wife and daughter are the best motivation he could ever need to use that sway.