Page 24 of Crossing the Line
More of Her
Hercules Lord
What a goddamn coincidence.
I swallow hard and tug at my tie to loosen it a bit. It’s PG.What’s she doing here?
Last night, Achilles let himself into my penthouse to inform me that he needed me to represent LTI at today’s hearing. He got word that Max Grove would be pulling a fast one in an effort to delay reaching an agreement. My job is to sit quietly while our cousin Nero, the lawyer representing us in this matter, battles it out with GIT’s counsel. The strategy is to force Dan Munster into conclusively ruling on the set agreement. Achilles advised me that Max would send a proxy to try to stall the proceedings. He thought would be Leo Grove, the uncle, would be representing their family. Nero was prepared to argue that the ruling could be made, given Leo’s percentage of involvement with GIT. But none of us could have guessed they would send Paisley.
“Isn’t that Xander Grove’s daughter?” Nero asks, narrowing his eyes at Paisley.
“In the flesh,” I say, distracted by how beautiful she looks this morning.
“Damn, she’s beautiful.”
“Yeah,” I whisper.
Sex agrees with her. She’s glowing. And she’s wearing a sleeveless white blouse and a black skirt that shows off her hips and long legs. I pinch my bottom lip and push my tongue against the roof of my mouth. My senses remember sucking on her breasts, kissing her mouth, and going down on her several times.
“Aw, shit. Tell me you didn’t fuck her again?” Nero whispers.
I snap myself out of my daze to grimace at my cousin, who’s apparently been watching me. “What?”
“You’re pulling at your lip. That means you did. When? Recently?”
Frankly, when I made love to Paisley is none of his business and should have no bearing on the matter at hand. But the last thing I want is to see Nero going at her like he goes at all of our opponents. He pounces on them, showing no mercy. He’s the reason we’ve gotten as far as we have on the TRANSPOT licensing agreement. The Groves have not conceded that we’re owed an equal share for products that spring from the preliminary research and programming scripts. However, they have agreed to pay us a huge sum of money to make us go away.
Achilles has said to hell with that. Not even the three hundred million they’re offering could make up for the profits GIT stands to make right out of the gate if their developers could bring TRANSPOT to life. I saytheirdevelopers because we can’t get our hands on the research to work on the software, which will be a major miracle if it ever hits the marketplace. Thanks to my cousin’s contacts and talent for cutting deals, this is the furthest we’ve ever gotten with a suit filed against the Groves.
I press my hands down hard on Nero’s shoulder and make sure he’s looking me square in the eye. “Just tread lightly with her, okay?”
Nero’s light eyes burn with annoyance as he shakes his head. “I’ll only do what needs to be done.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I turn to gather another view of Paisley. Seeing her gives me fuel to stand toe to toe with a gladiator like Nero. However, I now find myself trapped in her gaze as she and her lawyer watch us. All the blood has drained from her face. And her lawyer…
“Who is he?”
“Fuck,” Nero mutters. “It’s Clive Alden.”
“Clive Alden,” I repeat. “He was at the party last night. I think he’s a friend of Lake’s.” Lake knows everybody—people from all walks of life. I joke about it with Mason sometimes, asking him how he could be the least social person on the planet, marrying a woman who knows just about everybody in New York City from dog walkers to garbage men to Wall Street big shots.
“It doesn’t mean a thing, though. Alden is slightly better than Allen. Actually, it’s better that he’s here, and her too. I can make useful tools out of them.” Nero is eyeing the opposition like a snake does its prey.
I slap him hard on the shoulders again. “Don’t screw with her, Nero.” I said, “proceed with caution when dealing with PG. I’m warning you.”
He shakes his head hard. “I almost forgot you have a nickname for her.”
“Eden Castro,” I say.
I give him a moment to process. Then his shoulders slump, showing that a kernel of the fight has left him. “Okay,” he concedes. “Just get me her number.”
I’m about to shake on it with Nero, but then Clive Alden puts his hand on Paisley’s back as they head toward us.He’s touching her.
“Hercules Lord.” Clive’s voice echoes in the hollow corridor.
She’s walking now, so he can take his hand off her. But he doesn’t. Of course. I bet it feels good to touch her. No doubt his cock is sizzling.
“Where’s Max?” Nero asks, even though I suspect he knows the answer. “And Allen?”
