Page 15 of Blackmailing the Bad Girl

Chapter Four

“So you’re going through with this?” Harry asked.

Nik was still staring at the door where Summer had disappeared, trying to stall the irrational urge to go after her. Now he turned to Harry. “Yes.”

Harry shook his head. “What I want to know is—what do you see in her? She’s scrawny. She’s dishonest. She stole your money.”

“Maybe that’s why she intrigues me. With most women, it takes a while for them to reveal what they’re really after. At least with Summer, I know what she wants of me from the start. Anyway, I’m not interested in her like that.” That was a lie, but it was none of Harry’s business.

Harry smirked. “Of course you’re not.”

“She’s not my type.” No, his usual type was a tall, leggy model or an aspiring actress. Women who wanted to be seen in the places he could take them. Women he understood and never got attached to.

“That’s why she’s dangerous.”

“Don’t be so fucking melodramatic.” Of course she wasn’t dangerous. And he was prewarned anyway.

“And if she isn’t your type, how come you were kissing her that night?”

“She was kissing me.” But hell, he’d kissed her back, and she’d tasted so fucking sweet. He’d been hot and hard and all over her in seconds. The desire had been simmering between them for weeks, only needing a spark to send it out of control. If Harry hadn’t interrupted them, would everything have turned out differently?

If they’d made love that night, would she still have vanished with his money?

Experience told him…probably.

Harry was still loitering by his desk. Clearly, he had more to say on the matter. “You want her.”

“No, I don’t.” He learned from his mistakes. Didn’t he?

Harry ignored the comment. “That’s what this is all about. She’ll wrap you around her skinny little finger, and then she’ll revert to type and probably vanish with another pile of your money.”

“Doubtful.”

A sly look came over his friend’s face. “Want to bet on it?”

“No way.”

“Come on. You know you want to.”

“Go away and do some work. I’m busy.”

“Yes, boss.” Was that sarcasm? Harry headed for the door but paused with his hand on the handle. “So it’s a bet then. I get a week in the ski lodge if…or rather,whenI win.”

He shook his head. Harry knew quite well if he wanted a week in the ski lodge, he was welcome to it. “Go.”

But once Harry left, he couldn’t settle.

Summer wasn’t anything like he’d expected or remembered.

What the hell was he doing?

But he couldn’t cut her loose. She appeared so…vulnerable. If he let her go now, who knew what would happen to her? Now that he’d started this, he had a moral duty to continue.

He managed to stay away until five thirty. It was time to find out how his little protégée was doing. And show her where she would be staying. The company had several apartments around the city where they put up visiting executives. He’d selected the closest one.

When he went into the outer office, she was sitting at Lisa’s desk working at the keyboard, her lower lip gripped between her teeth. Lisa was standing across the room, talking into her cell phone, but she closed it off and slipped it into her pocket when she saw him. She beckoned him over, then turned so her back was to Summer.

“You made her cry,” she whispered, eyes filled with reproach. “What did you do to her?”

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