Page 1 of Mister Rival

Chapter One

TRISTAN

“You won’t sign it?” Alison Archer’s voice raises a pitch too high, making me want to ring my ear out… or simply hang up on her. I don’t do either. I’m a professional..

Alison may be my childhood enemy, and the woman who taunts my waking dreams at Archer Realtors Los Angeles across town, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends. It also doesn’t mean I’ll agree to a conjunctional.

Maybe I like seeing her sweat.

I can be an asshole, after all. May as well live up to my reputation.

Don’t get me wrong, the woman is beautiful in her own right. Intelligent. Successful. Shrewd but adorable. We joke around the office that she could swindle the devil himself with her perky little buyer’s agent speech and her fingers crossed behind her back. But she doesn’t fool me.

In fact, the only one she isn’t perky with is me. She’s a snake in the grass for want of a better word.

To the outside world, she’s Strawberry Shortcake. Her shiny, blunt cut, copper hair — that could be spun out of gold for the amount of money she probably spends on it — that’s like a halo in disguise and frames a soft, pretty face with striking greeneyes. Her makeup is always flawless, as are her swanky Chanel skirt suits that have no business being that tight. She’s my age, forty-five, and has legs that seem to go on for miles and a body that hugs those designer dishrags within an inch of its life. Side note: I love a curvy woman.

Now I’m picturing her rack and can barely contain myself from laughing out loud at her indignant tone.

“When did I say I wouldn’t sign?”

“Don’t be an ass, Tristan. We all know that property has been on the market for months and it’s overpriced, plus you’ve reduced it twice. Just sign the damn paperwork and let’s put this to bed.”

I roll my eyes, secretly glad I’m miles away in the safety of my office. When sweet little Alison Archer wants to swing that scorpion tail, you better be sure you’re out of the way.

“You sound flustered, Ali. Are you sure you’re not imagining putting me to bed?”

She scoffs down the line and I’ve learned over the years to not be offended. I’m the last person in LA she would sleep with, but I still enjoy baiting her. “Oh, my God, I think I just threw up a little. You seriously just can’t get over yourself since growing out the gray, can you, Lucas?” She laughs without humor. “Just because a man can sleep with every woman in LA and woo them with his fake charm, doesn’t mean he has to.”

Ah yes,that. My reputation. I have one, and while not all of it is pretty, it keeps me interested to see who I’m apparently dating this week when I open the newspaper.

I may have been around the block a time or two, but I’m a gentleman. And I also haven’t had a serious relationship since my sons’ mother, and I divorced when the boys were teenagers.

Joshua, Bradley and Noah are my life. They work for me in the family business; Lucas Property Brothers, and to say I’m proud of each of them is an understatement. They alsodon’t have room to talk because at twenty-five, twenty-three and twenty-one, none of them are married or have anything close to a relationship. Like father like sons? Or are we all just workaholics?

But I’m also not the manwhore I’ve been portrayed to be, especially not in the last few years.

“For someone who can’t stand me, you seem to know an awful lot about my personal life,” I say.

She tsks. “Puh-lease, your face is always splashed all over the society pages, just a word to the wise,” she drops her tone considerably to a sexy little whisper. “Some of those younger women on your arm make you look desperate.”

I almost choke on my coffee mid-sip. “You know, if you were trying to woo me into signing this deal, I would’ve gone with flattery,” I say. “Then again, your acid tongue has gotten you into more than one pickle in the past. Don’t play innocent with me, Archer, you did date a guy who was the same age as my son.”

That’ll be sure to start the hells of fury temper we all know and love to boil. It’s also not true, but I love ribbing her about it any chance I get.

“You know that was for a photoshoot, wise ass, and he was thirty. We were photographed together at an event,” she bites. “You know what’s amazing to me? How it’s okay for a man to date a woman half their age, but if a woman wants to date a man who’s younger than her?” She snorts for affect. “She gets ridiculed, judged and shamed. And for the record, if I did want to fuck him, he wouldn’t know what hit him in the dick.”

My eyebrows shoot up at the same time my dick kicks in my pants and I shift in my seat. Uh, what the fuck?

That’s a turn out for the books.

I’ve never gotten a boner over Alison before… Okay, maybe once, but I can’t help it if I enjoy it when she gets worked up. Now I’m imagining angry sex on the countertop of said houseshe’s trying to land, her skirt rucked up around her hips as I pound into her over and over while she screams and begs for more?—

I cough.What in the actual fuck?

“I can only imagine what a sight that would be.” Is it just me, or did it suddenly get hot in here?

“Yes, imagining is all you’d ever get, Lucas. Sign the fucking papers!”

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