Page 104 of The Spare
“Now you’re just showing off.” I swatted his chest.
He gave a laugh, a rich and deep one. There was nothing that squeezed my heart more thanthatlook. That shift, when a deeply buried joy made its way out of him. His entire face lit up in a way I hardly ever used to see. It warmed me to my bones.
“So?” He looked nervous. It was the most endearing thing I’d ever seen.
“Yes, I’ll move in with you.” I leaned in, pressed another short kiss on his lips, and immediately pulled away. “What’s my hint?”
“You helped make it.” The wolfish grin that spread across his face made me sure I needed to know more.
Before I could interrogate him for more clues, his hand gripped the back of my neck and pulled me back to his lips. Our tongues slid against each other’s in a familiar tango. A shiver of warmth swept through me. I pulled away after a minute, my pleading eyes searching his.
“Take me home,” I whispered.
CHAPTER52
Sloan
Henry and Marcus were certain that Henry had five yes-votes to retain him as CEO. Three were no-votes. That left four votes in play.
We needed three things. A way to secure one more yes-vote (ideally two), a way to prevent one or more of the no-votes, and a backup plan.
Preventing a no-vote was the path of least resistance. I sat on the bed and scanned the company bylaws on my laptop.
A cloud of steam distracted me when it puffed into the room as Marcus walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. I looked up from my work to take a moment to admire him. Watching the remaining water droplets slide slowly down the rigid muscles felt forbidden. Knowing I was the only one privy to what was below the towel made my own sense of possessiveness surge. A part of me still squealed internally at the knowledge that I was fucking that body regularly.
We had spent the last few days working from home because we couldn’t pull ourselves out of bed. I wasn’t looking forward to the arguments we would have in the future, but I wouldn’t mind the process of making up.
Marcus almost never worked from his home office. He never took time off. But that was slowly changing.
“I already know what you look like naked.” He chuckled when he noticed me staring and pulling the sheets up around me. It was a bizarre habit, a lingering self-consciousness from a lifetime of hiding.
Instead of going to the closet, he came to the bed. He leaned in and moved my laptop back to the nightstand. He kissed my lips gently. Then, he nudged me until my back was flat against the mattress. “And what you feel like.” He laid a kiss on my jaw. “And taste like.” He moved down to my neck, his warm breath skating across my collarbone.
“I could say the same for you.”
The smug smirk he gave when I pulled at his towel made me feel faint. He moved back to my lips as the weight of his body pushed me into the mattress. The soft playful kiss became heated in an instant. His hand tossed the towel to the floor and pulled the sheets out from between us.
“They’re going to be here soon.” I reminded him to no avail.
His hands ran down my sides to my hips, and he hooked my legs around his waist. As much as I wanted to get distracted again, I knew we shouldn’t right now. I swallowed hard when I felt my resolve wear.
“If we’re not downstairs when Henry gets here, he’ll assume why,” I said.
The mention of his name made Marcus jerk back. “We’re finishing this later.” He reluctantly pulled away and got dressed. Following his lead, I quickly showered and got dressed as well. Henry and Xander were coming over in an hour.
Once I was dressed, I sat at the kitchen table and waited for them while I looked over the bylaws. Specifically, I was looking into voting requirements for board members. Marcus thought that maybe we could change the requirements to prevent a no-vote from being able to attend the vote.
Apparently, manipulating the method by which board members voted was how the Waldorf’s retained control of their family’s company.
Marcus was looking into Julian. I wasn’t surprised.
When Xander and I put Julian’s family in the FBI’s crosshairs, they were also faced with an unfriendly board of directors. Their family came from old steel money and still held managing control of the company. Allister, Julian’s father, called to hold a vote just a day after changing the bylaws to require all voting members to be physically present.
The global nature of the company made it nearly impossible for key members to vote. That, and I assumed blackmail, ensured his continued control.
I spent most of the morning looking into our bylaws to see if the same method could be used. It could, with one notable exception. Proxy voters weren’t permitted. It meant Marcus would need to vote in the Ellory seat, and that would raise a lot of flags, given he was a sitting CEO of the competition.
“You can’t vote by proxy. The owner of Ellory must vote in person if Henry changes the voting requirements.”
