Page 20 of Silver Fox's Christmas Scandal
I looked at the research folder, at the calculated timeline that would lead me to motherhood on my own terms.
Then I looked at my phone, where Lucian's challenge waited for an answer I wasn't sure I was brave enough to give.
6
LUCIAN
The leather seat creaked beneath me as I leaned forward to check my watch. Twenty-three minutes had passed since I ended the call, and doubt crept through my chest for the first time in years.
I had built my empire on calculating risks, but this felt different because I couldn't boil people down to a science the way I did business.
There were no charts or numbers to project, just the raw apprehension of "what if."
"Turn here." I gestured for my driver, indicating the street where modest apartment buildings lined the sidewalk. I couldn't sit at home and wait to see if she got in this car and came to me. I had to move and do something.
So here I was with a bottle of champagne chilling and a dozen long-stemmed red roses on the seat next to me.
I had stopped leaving important outcomes to chance when I was twelve years old after watching my father lose things he wanted to poor judgment and wishful thinking.
Control had become my religion and discipline my salvation.
Yet here I was, racing across town with flowers for a woman who might not even answer her door.
But at least I'd know then.
The car slowed to a halt outside her building. Through the tinted windows, I could see the warm glow of lights in the building's windows.
The rational part of my mind suggested I should wait, should let her make the choice without pressure. The part that had clawed its way to the top of the financial world disagreed.
But before I could get out of the car and knock on her door, her silhouette appeared in the door as it swung open. Tessa emerged into the blustery Chicago wind wearing a long black trench coat that hugged her curves.
Her hair was tied down under a silk scarf, but a few strands whipped in the wind as she walked with hands in pockets toward me.
David climbed out of the car, and I watched him hustle around the front of the limo then to the passenger side door. When it opened, the cold took my breath away, but not as much as the cloud of feminine scent that rushed in ahead of her as she nodded at him before climbing into the car beside me.
"Oh!" she rushed out as she slipped the scarf off her head and turned toward me. "You came? I thought the car would be empty."
She was here, seated next to me as David rounded back to this door after closing us in. I was shocked as much as elated that she made the decision to come and I almost felt foolish for being in this car and not trusting her to come to me.
My eyes flicked to the rearview mirror where David's gaze awaited my orders. "To my place," I told him as I pressed the button to raise the divider. The faintest hint of a smirk crossed his features and I knew his good-natured chuckle would comenext, but it would be hidden by the partition that now separated us.
"If I'm being honest, I thought I'd have to convince you to let me in. You seem reluctant." I reached for the flowers and handed them to her, but she was busy folding her scarf on her lap. She took them and smelled them, then laid them to the side.
"They're beautiful, but you didn’t have to go to the trouble. I was under the impression that this was nothing more than a booty call. Roses aren't necessary." Tessa's fingers worked the knot in the thick belt around her waist, and my chest felt like pressure was building inside it.
When they rose to begin unfastening the buttons of the coat, I noticed a lot more flesh than I expected to see.
I thought she'd be wearing a dress, or maybe some jeans. But the farther down the buttons opened, the more skin I saw.
"You're naked under that, aren't you?" I asked, refusing the temptation to rub my dick which was already swelling. It'd been almost half chub all day anyway as I thought about how to get her into my bed again.
She kept undoing her coat, and I let my eyes devour every centimeter of bared flesh she showed me. Maybe I'd gotten her all wrong, after all. "You said the best things started as sketchy ideas."
The champagne and roses forgotten, I moved closer to her on the seat.
Her coat dropped open fully, falling from her shoulders to the leather seat in a puddle of black. She was bare beneath it—every inch of her. My chest tightened at the sight, a rush of heat ripping through me.
“God, Tessa,” I growled, dragging my hand over her thigh. Her skin was warm, smooth, and begging to be touched. “You came with nothing on under that trench? You were planning to wreck me.”
