Page 16 of Mad Rivals
We will need you to work together.
The gorgeous business rival glaring at me is about to become my business partner. Well, sort of. I have no clue if she’s going to oversee the project on her end, but I’ll sure as fuck be overseeing it on mine.
Except, you know, I have that wholefootballthing where I’ll have to head to San Diego in a few months for training camp. Plus workouts in April, OTAs in May, and mandatory minicamp in June.
But when I’m not in San Diego, you can bet your ass I’ll be right here.
Right beside the caffeine queen.
She opens her mouth to say something—likely an objection to this plan—but I slide in first. “What a fantastic opportunity, Mr. Sterling. Thank you for awarding Bradley with even a portion of this incredible project.”
She glances at me, and the side-eye is fierce as our eyes connect. She obviously thinks I’m an ass-kisser, which is fine since it’s her ass I’ll be kissing in the more literal sense as soon as fucking possible. I don’t know what it is, but this fierce need to get her alone washes over me.
“Ms. Van Buren, I’d love to set up a time to start discussing the master plans,” I say, turning to her. “Are you free after we wrap up here?” Say…my place? Naked?
Okay, Bradley, slow your roll.
She obviously isn’t going to reject my request in front of the client, and furthermore, she’s not going to make excuses by bringing up other clients. She purses her lips, and the little lines at the corners tell me she’s not happy I’m cornering her.
“Yes, that would work,” she grits out.
There’s something so cute about the way she’s angry with me, and as much fun as it is to push her buttons, I can’t wait to get to the bottom of why she’s suddenly so angry.
CHAPTER 9: Kennedy Van Buren
Could You Give Me a Ride
Is he freaking kidding me?
He’s doing this on purpose. He knows he just cornered me. I can’t say no in front of the client, but I sure as hell will give him a piece of my mind when we’re alone.
I don’t want to be alone with him.
I don’t even want to be in this office with him. He smells too good. Looks too good. Flirts too good.
I think back to my father’s words about the Bradley family. Under no circumstances am I to get involved with the Bradley family, which—fine. Okay. But what do I do now? SCS is forcing me to get involved with Bradley. We’re going to partner on this project.
I could easily hand this off to someone else in the office. Kenneth or Sara come to mind.
But I don’twantto hand this project off. I don’t want Sara getting close to him. Not because I’m jealous, but because he’s dangerous. He’s handsome and manipulative, and that’s a recipe for disaster.
I don’t even know if I can handle him, but since my dad owns VBC, I have a better shot at it than Sara.
We wrap things up with Simon, and he walks us out to the lobby after going on and on about how excited he is to work on this with both of us and our teams.
I’m decidedlynotexcited about it. I don’t particularly want to spend any more time with maddening Madden Bradley than is completely necessary, but apparentlynecessaryjust stepped up a few notches.
His car is waiting out front for him, and I’m the idiot who drove myself. I walk over toward my car, and he pauses by his car before he thinks twice and follows me.
I stop next to my little white Mercedes, and I glance over at him. “What?” I hiss.
He chuckles. “There’s a Starbucks just around the corner. Want to walk and talk there?”
I sigh. “Fine.”
“Give me a second.” He strides over toward his driver and says something, and the driver pulls out of the parking lot as he walks back over toward me.
“Did you send your driver home?” I ask casually as we start walking toward the coffee place.
